


Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

by hollyand



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Badly-Knitted Christmas Elf Hats, Do You Want to Build a Snowman?, F/M, Family Fluff, Snow, Snowball Fight, Warden Carver Hawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9137497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyand/pseuds/hollyand
Summary: It snows in Kirkwall. Merrill persuades Carver – as well as Fenris and Marian Hawke – to play in the snow with her.(My love ofFrozenandDragon Ageganged up on me... and produced this. Set sometime after DA2. Written for the Carver Secret Santa Exchange.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



> Gift request for the Winter Holiday Exchange run by @carver-defense-squad on Tumblr! 
> 
> Giftee expressed preferences for family fluff, Warden!Carver and F!Hawke/Fenris, so I hope this suffices! (I know you weren't keen on anything Christmas/religious-themed, but I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of dressing Merrill and Fenris up as Christmas elves. Mainly because it amused me. Especially the idea of Fenris in a hat with bells on it.) Hope you like it!

‘Do you want to build a snowman?’ Merrill chirped excitedly, her green eyes lighting up like fairy lights, and Carver’s breath caught in his throat; she was _adorable_. ‘Come on, let’s go and play! I never see you anymore, especially since you’ve gone away!’

‘Well, the Wardens kept me busy all these years,’ Carver stammered, unsure how to answer the expectant look on Merrill’s face. He turned back to the window, watching the snow coming down and blanketing the Hawke Estate’s back courtyard in white. ‘I suppose I – I suppose I can’t come and visit as often as I’d like…’

‘But Car-ver,’ Merrill protested, turning herself back to the window, and Carver hated seeing her pout, ‘it’s just so _pretty_ outside! How can you not want to go and play in it?’

‘Yes, Carver,’ came the smooth tone of Marian Hawke behind him, and even with his back turned Carver could hear the smirk in her voice, ‘how can you not want to play with Merrill?’

Carver groaned, and turned around. His sister was indeed smirking, just as he thought, her blue eyes – just like his – sparkling in amusement. Even worse was Fenris, just behind her, snorting in quiet appreciative mirth at the subtle innuendo Marian had made at his expense.

Carver looked away. It was hard not to deny that he felt a pang of jealousy when he looked at Marian and Fenris; he was happy that they were happy, especially with the impending wedding, but _Maker_ how he wanted the same thing for himself.

Not likely to happen any time soon, by the looks of it. Especially not with him being a Grey Warden, and spending so much time away…

Fenris cleared his throat, and Carver’s gaze flicked to him. ‘You cannot possibly travel back to the Warden outpost in snow this deep,’ he rumbled, and Carver was grateful for the change of subject.

‘No,’ he agreed. ‘I can’t. Looks like I’m staying here for another night, after all.’ He shot a pointed glance at Marian, and folded his arms.

The elder Hawke rolled her eyes. ‘You make it sound like such an ordeal, Carver. Of course you can stay another night. Maker knows _Merrill_ will appreciate it. Won’t you, Merrill?’

Carver glared at her, but if Merrill had picked up on his sister’s hint, she showed absolutely no indication she had done so.

‘Oh, I would!’ Merrill chirruped, grabbing at Carver’s upper arm to get his attention. ‘Creators, it was _so_ nice to see you again, Carver! The Grey Wardens keep you so busy! It will be lovely if you stayed with us another night! I know I can’t exactly go back to the alienage in this snow, so…’

‘All right,’ Carver mumbled, and Marian smirked again at the way Carver softened when he spoke to Merrill; and he _hated_ how obviously his defences crumbled in front of the elf. (Even Fenris seemed amused by how weak Carver was in front of Merrill, especially given how the elves supposedly didn’t get on; clearly being in love with his sister had softened _him_ up, too.) Carver ignored Marian’s grin just as hard as he tried to ignore the blush now spreading across his face. ‘I’ll – I’ll stay, Merrill, if only because you’ve asked me to…’

‘So, do you want to build a snowman?’ she asked again, looking up at him hopefully. ‘It doesn’t _have_ to be a snowman…’

Carver sighed. ‘All right,’ he repeated, and this time Marian actually _laughed_. 

***

‘Why,’ grumbled Fenris, shivering as he stepped outside, red-and-green woollen boots sinking into the snow; his pointed ears were red and poking out from under the messily-knitted matching hat Marian had proudly sat on his white-haired head. The woolly hat even had a round, golden bell attached to the crown; and both knitted garments clashed so badly with Fenris’s spiky black armour that Carver would have laughed if it wasn’t for the stony expression on Fenris’s face. ‘Why did I let her talk me into this.’

‘Why did we both,’ grumbled Carver right back, and the two exchanged a look of understanding.

‘Come on,’ Marian’s voice rang out cheerfully, as she pushed past her brother and her fiancé, wrapped up in a warm cloak that was the same colour as its dark grey wolf-fur collar. ‘Let’s build Merrill a snowman.’ She turned to them both with a cheerful grin, and adjusted Fenris’s woollen hat until it covered the reddened tips of his ears, smoothing them tenderly underneath the brim, while the bell jingled gently as it moved. Despite his grumpy demeanour when they’d first stepped outside, Fenris allowed himself a small smile, and with the puppy eyes he was now making at his sister Carver felt as if he was intruding on a private moment he shouldn’t.

Fortunately, Merrill chose that moment to bound out of the Hawke Estate and ruin it.

‘I’m here!’ she called breathlessly, clad in dark green knitwear; Carver got the feeling Merrill had knitted her winter clothes herself, and taught Marian how to make the hat and boots for Fenris. ‘Look, Carver, I knitted myself a new hat!’

Merrill adjusted the neatly-knitted red hat on her head, pushing its white bobble out of her face, and Carver had to resist the urge to smooth her ears under the headgear just like his sister had done to Fenris. She smiled up at him as she spoke again; the tip of her pale nose was now bright red and she looked _so cute_ that Carver couldn’t stop staring. ‘How do I look?’

 _Conceal it. Don’t feel it. Don’t let her know_.

‘Nice, I guess,’ Carver eventually settled on saying, while Marian huffed.

‘“Nice”,’ Marian quoted him mockingly, as she walked past him into the middle of the courtyard; the snow floated down and the white flakes caught in her hair, highlighting the grey at her temples – the same grey he was now starting to get. ‘She looks very cute, Carver, and you know it.’

Carver shrugged. ‘I suppose. If you say so.’

Merrill said no more, but Carver thought she looked a little crestfallen as she brushed past him to stand next to Marian, Fenris jingling in her wake.

 _So many years I’ve known you, and I still can’t tell you how I feel_.

It had been so long now Carver wasn’t sure there was any point anymore in telling her how he felt. She probably had someone now, for all he knew. Someone else to replace the hole in her heart that the mirror and the clan had left behind.

Marian was already directing Fenris and Merrill in the snow as they rolled their snowballs around, packing the snowy layers onto them to make their snowballs grow big enough to assemble the snowman with; and Carver watched as Merrill frowned in concentration as her own snowballs fell apart, while Fenris looked surprisingly cheerful for someone dressed in such awful hat and boots.

Carver was so lost in thought that he didn’t see the snowball until it hit him in the face.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry!’ Merrill said, eyes wide, as Carver blinked at her in surprise. ‘I was going to use this one to help make a snowman, but Hawke knocked it out of my hand!’

Carver brushed the fluffy, icy snow out of his eyes, only to be pelted with another; the peal of laughter from his sister told him exactly who was responsible for that one. He grinned, and scooped up the snow at his feet, and hurled the snowball back at her. Fenris chuckled as he pushed his snow boulder round the yard, his hat bell ringing every so often, while Marian darted in and out of the trees, laughing as Carver chased her.

Carver stopped to scoop up and throw another snowball at Marian, when a small, soft, cold ball of snow landed on his ear, almost like a kiss. He turned, and Merrill stood there, a shy, tentative smile on her face, and Carver’s heart leapt in his chest.

 _She’s so beautiful_ , he thought. _Maker I want her_.

‘That was you, was it?’ he asked, and Merrill’s giggly nod had him chasing her round the yard, laughing as he attempted to pelt her with snow, Merrill’s squeals and giggles rising above even Marian and Fenris’s laughter as Merrill tried and failed to throw snowballs back at him.

‘I swear I’m gonna get you, Merrill,’ Carver called playfully, while Merrill laughed and tossed a snowball his way.

‘I’ve been waiting for you, Carver,’ she shouted back, her lilting voice excited, her eyes bright. ‘Come and get me, then!’

Carver could almost feel Marian and Fenris exchanging looks behind his back, but he ignored them and carried on chasing Merrill until he caught up with her, laughing as he gathered her into his arms and crushing his snowball against her as she squealed in delight.

‘Got you,’ he chuckled, as they collapsed in a graceless heap in the snow.

Still giggling, Merrill squirmed in his embrace, and before Carver knew it she’d pushed him onto his back in the snow. The first thing Carver registered was _ouch this is cold_ ; the next thing he knew, she was on top of him, above him, their faces almost touching, her eyes staring into his.

‘You’re beautiful,’ he breathed, before he even realised what he’d just said.

‘So are you,’ she whispered back, and the next thing he knew her lips were on his – he had no idea which of them initiated the kiss – and his hand had snaked up to tangle in her hair, under her woollen hat, while the other cradled her; her lips were cold like the winter air but her tongue was warm and welcoming and wet; and Carver rolled her over, onto her back, deepening the kiss, her hot breath warming his mouth like he was warming hers; and it took a while for his brain to catch up to the fact that he was kissing Merrill, _he was kissing Merrill_ , and he’d wanted this for so long, so much…

‘Ah,’ came Fenris’s voice from somewhere above them, deep and thoroughly amused. ‘Looks like we should build the snowman ourselves, Hawke.’

‘Well, will you look at that,’ Marian sniggered as Merrill and Carver broke off their kiss; Carver closed his eyes and buried his face in both Merrill’s neck and the snow – it was easier than facing his sister. ‘It took them long enough.’

Carver groaned. ‘Sister,’ he began, feeling his face heat up again, ‘we’re… busy.’

‘Evidently,’ returned Fenris drily, while Marian snorted.

‘I think it’s time for us to go back inside, Fenris,’ Marian said. ‘It was Merrill’s idea to build a snowman, and I suspect she’d prefer to… build on her newfound passion with my brother instead. Come on,’ and Carver looked up, as his sister, cheeky grin all over her face, made to trudge through the snow back to the Estate, ‘let’s leave them to it, Fenris.’

‘Indeed,’ Fenris agreed, following her. ‘It is cold out here. Let’s hope it does not cool their affections.’

Marian laughed again as she and her fiancé walked back to the Estate, arm in arm; Carver watched them go before he turned to where Merrill was still lying beneath him, gazing at him in a mixture of joy and embarrassment.

‘They have a point,’ muttered Carver; despite the fact that they were lying in the freezing snow, she was still _so warm_ , so alive, and it was precious. ‘It’s bloody cold out here.’

‘Do you still want to build a snowman, Carver?’ she asked breathlessly, and Carver chuckled and dipped his head again.

‘Not really,’ he answered. ‘I think I prefer kissing you instead.’

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hello at [hollyand-writes.tumblr.com](http://hollyand-writes.tumblr.com)!


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